What this article is about?
In this article, we will be discussing how to be sure whether your question is asking you to write a semi-formal letter/email in your GT IELTS writing test, how to plan for a semi-formal letter/email, and finally, how to write a great answer. It also includes a few tips that would help you write an excellent semi-formal IELTS letter/email response that would make sure that you get a high band score in this part of the test.
Before we get into details on how to write a semi-formal letter/email and explore ways to maximise your score for this part of the test, let’s first learn what a semi-formal letter/email is.
What is a semi-formal IELTS Letter/Email?
A semi-formal letter/email is neither overly formal nor too informal. It is in between. You write an informal letter/email to a friend and a formal letter to someone you do not know at all. In an informal letter, you are permitted to use informal expressions, colloquial and some idioms. You can also use contractions and personal greetings in such a letter. However, you do not use any informal expressions or colloquial in a formal letter. And in a semi-formal letter, you do not use any contractions, use some idioms, colloquial and expressions which are somehow formal but not extremely formal. In your IELTS test, you write a semi-formal letter to a neighbour, colleague, landlord/landlady or someone you know personally or socially but who is not as close as friends are to you.
The simplest rule to detect if you are required to write a semi-formal letter is that the question would ask you to write a letter to someone whom you personally know but who is not your friend. As the name suggests, “semi-formal” is neither very formal nor informal. It will mostly use a formal tone and language but not too formal that you would otherwise use to write to a person you do not know at all.
What is the difference between a letter writing and an email writing task?
Please note that there is no difference between a letter and an email writing response, and your answer would be the same in both cases.
Examples:
An example of a semi-formal IELTS Letter Writing Task is given below:
You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.
You have just moved into a new home and are planning to hold a party. You are worried that the noise may disturb your neighbour.
Write a letter to your neighbour. In your letter:
- introduce yourself
- describe your plans for the party
- invite your neighbour to come to the party
Write at least 150 words.
You do NOT need to write any addresses.
Begin your letter as follows:
Dear ……………,
Now, let’s take a look at an example of a semi-informal IELTS Email Writing Task.
You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.
You and your family are living in a rented accommodation in an English-speaking country. You are not satisfied with the condition of some of the furniture.
Write an email to your landlord. In your email:
- introduce yourself
- explain what is wrong with the furniture
- say what action you would like the landlord to take
Write at least 150 words.
You do NOT need to write any addresses.
Begin your email as follows:
Dear ………….…,
What to do when it gets complicated?
Sometimes it may seem difficult to determine if a situation demands a letter/email to be semi-formal or formal. And if you feel this way, rest assured, you are not alone. To explain, the rule of thumb to detect a semi-formal letter is that you are asked to write a letter to someone whom you personally or socially know, but who is not very close to you. For instance, your neighbours, colleagues, and landlords are such people. Now, what about your manager from your job? Is he someone who is close to you or a person you hardly know by his/her name? Moreover, it gets complicated even more when you think that the neighbour who you are going to ask to join a party that you are throwing may have recently moved into your neighbourhood whom you have never met or could be someone you have known for a very long and have a close relationship? It could be confusing to think about what style of letter-writing method (semi-formal or formal) you should adopt while writing to a Human Resource Manager in an office. The HR manager could be someone you have never met in your life and you are writing to him/her to schedule an interview. On the contrary, he/she could be someone in your office whom you meet daily and talk to regularly.
Well, fortunately, you have a shortcut method to address this dilemma in your IELTS test. Just look at the question when it says –
“Begin your letter as follows:”
If it says “Dear ……….” or “Dear Mr/Mrs ……….” or simply “Dear Mr/Mrs Moore”, you need to write a semi-formal letter.
If it says “Dear Sir or Madam”, you have to write a formal letter.
Now that we know what a semi-formal letter is and how to detect it, let’s explore how we can plan for it. Please note that you should not spend more than 1 or 2 minutes planning for your letter response.
How to plan to write a semi-formal letter?
After you know that you would be writing a semi-formal letter, make a quick mental note about the three bullet points of the questions. Your first task would be to prepare short notes about the things you are going to elaborate on in your answer.
For instance, take the semi-formal letter-writing task below and make some brief notes on the three bullet points first.
Question:
You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.
You are experiencing financial problems and want to ask your landlord if you can pay your rent late.
Write a letter to your landlord. In your letter explain:
- why you are writing to him/her
- why you cannot pay the rent
- when you will pay the rent
Write at least 150 words.
You do NOT need to write any addresses.
Begin your letter as follows:
Dear ………………,
First bullet point – “why you are writing to him/her”:
A brief note: To say that I’ve always paid rent on time but can’t do so this time. Please allow me to pay my November and December rent together with January’s rent.
Second bullet point – “why you cannot pay the rent”:
A brief note: I did not get my salary in November. And I will not get it either in December. However, the office has assured me that they will pay me all due payments in January.
Third bullet point – “when you will pay the rent”:
A brief note: within the 10th of January.
Now that you have a good plan for your semi-formal letter response, you need to convert this plan into an actual letter/email response. Now we will do exactly that.
How to write an actual semi-formal letter or email from your plan?
Step 1: Start with the salutation.
You begin your letter by addressing your landlord or landlady. This part is known as the “salutation”.
You write “Dear Mr” or “Dear Mrs” followed by his/her “last name”, and then a “comma(,)”. For example:
Dear Mr James,
or
Dear Mrs Julia,
Please do not write – “Hi”, “Hello”, “Dearest”, “My dear landlord” or “Dear Mr James Calvin”. The last one (i.e. “Dear James Calvin”) is incorrect because when you write a semi-formal letter or email, you do not write the full name of the recipient. Rather you write his/her last name.
Step 2: Open your letter with some polite personal greetings but do not make it too personal.
For example:
A) I hope you are doing excellent.
or, B) I hope this letter finds you in good health and spirit.
DO NOT use too personal greetings that you would otherwise write to a friend.
For example, “How’re you? It’s been a long since we last met or talked over the phone. I hope everything is great on your end.” is a suitable greeting to a friend but not to a landlord or landlady.
Step 3: Fully answer all three bullet points. It is a great idea to dedicate a paragraph for each bullet point.
Paragraph dedicated to the first bullet point – [why you are writing to him/her]
I am Aaron Fraiser, one of your tenants, living in your Brookley Street apartment for the last two years, and I have always paid my rent on time. However, this time I am requesting you allow me to pay the rent late for the months of November and December. I am positive that I will pay the due amount as well as January’s rent together in January.
Paragraph dedicated to the second bullet point – [why you cannot pay the rent]
The reason I can not pay my rent for November and December is that my office is having some difficulties bringing money from overseas clients due to some issues with the international payment with the bank. For this reason, I did not get my November salary and the office has informed me that they may not pay us in December as well. However, they assured us that we will get all our dues in January as the problem is expected to be sorted out before the end of this year.
Paragraph dedicated to the third bullet point – [when you will pay the rent]
I will pay the dues as well as the rent for the month of January before the 10th of January. I hope it will be okay with you.
Step 4: Close the semi-formal letter. In this part of the letter, you should thank the landlord/landlady for being so understanding. For instance,
1) Thank you in advance.
or, 2) Thank you for being so understanding.
Step 5: Sign out the letter. This is the last part of the semi-formal letter that you would write. In this part, you write “Yours sincerely” and then your full name. For instance,
Yours sincerely,
Aaron Fraiser
Now we will combine all the parts of the semi-formal letter. The following is the complete answer to the letter topic.
Dear Mr James,
I hope this letter finds you in good health and spirit.
I am Aaron Fraiser, one of your tenants, living in your Brookley Street apartment for the last two years, and I have always paid my rent on time. However, this time I am requesting you allow me to pay the rent late for the months of November and December. I am positive that I will pay the due amount as well as January’s rent together in January.
The reason I can not pay my rent for November and December is that my office is having some difficulties bringing money from overseas clients due to some issues with the international payment with the bank. For this reason, I did not get my November salary and the office has informed me that they may not pay us in December as well. However, they assured us that we will get all our dues in January as the problem is expected to be sorted out before the end of this year.
I will pay the dues as well as the rent for the month of January before the 10th of January. I hope it will be okay with you.
Thank you for being so understanding.
Yours sincerely,
Aaron Fraiser
Note: The above letter contains approximately 209 words. Since you are asked to write at least 150 words, you should not write less than 150 words. If you do, you would lose some important points.
Also, note that we have not used any contractions in our letter and you should not use such contractions (like, I’ve, It’s, I’m etc) in a semi-formal or formal letter/email.